Goldschmidt joins C21

by Tim Czerwienski

Photograph: Gary Wayne Gilbert

On January 9, Erik Goldschmidt, Ph.D.’08, became the new director of the Church in the 21st Century Center.

Goldshmidt was previously executive vice president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA), a network of foundations that support Catholic programs and causes, based in Washington, D.C. He received his doctorate in counseling psychology at the Lynch School of Education, and was a teaching fellow, adjunct professor, and program director at the University’s Center for Child, Family, and Community Partnerships before going to FADICA in February 2011. He succeeds special assistant to the president Robert Newton, who for the past year and a half served as the center’s interim director.

Originally conceived in 2002 as a two-year initiative to explore the state of the Catholic Church in light of the clerical sex abuse scandal, the Church in the 21st Century Center was made permanent in 2004. Through lectures, conferences, and publications, the Center focuses on four main areas of interest: handing on the faith to the next generation; the roles of laity, vowed religious, deacons, priests, and bishops; relationships and sexuality; and the Catholic intellectual tradition.